Photos: Work nearly done on new facility to house Kandahar Airfield Cenotaph

Work on the structure to house the Kandahar Airfield Cenotaph should be finished by the end of this month.

The cenotaph is located at the new Department of National Defence headquarters at the former Nortel complex in the west end of Ottawa.

Natural disasters in the U.S. have caused a minor delay in getting some of the needed construction materials. The cenotaph was installed first and then a building constructed around it.

The official opening for the Kandahar Airfield Cenotaph won’t take place until next spring when the landscaping around the site is finished.

However, DND staff and military personnel will have access to the site in the meantime.

The cenotaph at Kandahar air field, built by Canadian Forces personnel and Afghan employees, became a symbol for many Canadians of the losses endured in the Afghan war.

On the cenotaph are plaques that honour Canadian Forces members who died as well as Foreign Affairs official Glyn Berry, Calgary Herald journalist Michelle Lang, and Marc Cyr, a civilian from SNC Lavalin, a company under contract to the DND. Other plaques on the cenotaph honour the U.S. military who died while serving under Canadian command.

DND officials concluded that the cenotaph would not survive an Ottawa winter if left outdoors so it required a building to be constructed around it.